ECOWAS Business News

The Accidental ECOWAS & AU Citizen: HERE ARE THREE WAYS ORDINARY GHANAIANS CAN BENEFIT FROM ECOWAS: ECOWAS BIOMETRIC ID CARD: Free movement under ECOWAS already allows citizens to travel freely without a visa. This has been happening since 1979.The ECOWAS Biometric ID Card in many ways democratizes the ECOWAS identity by allowing everyone, including posterity, to possess an ID Card that allows you to travel throughout the sub-region WITHOUT YOUR PASSPORT. Although recent worrying reports from Cote d'Ivoire that the country does not want to allow use of ECOWAS BIOMETRIC ID Cards without a passport are a source of concern, the idea is for cards to be standard fare even when you forget your passport at home. Passports will be for travel OUTSIDE the ECOWAS zone, but cards should be accepted at the point of entries of ECOWAS Member States. ( http://www.presidence.sn/en/newsroom/ecowas-biometric-id-card-the-10-facts-you-need-to-know_1118 ) ECOWAS YOUTH VOLUNTEER SCHEME: If you ar...

ECOWAS Volunteers Scheme to Unveil E-Platform By E.K.Bensah Jr Whoever said Africa was not capable of managing its own affairs had yet to encounter the ECOWAS Volunteers Scheme. To ECOWAS insiders, it’s the de facto “Marshall Plan” of ECOWAS that seeks to uplift the Mano River Union countries embedded within ECOWAS -- Liberia; Sierra Leone; Guinea-Bissau -- from extreme poverty. To others, it’s a largely-unknown attempt to address the deep unemployment affecting the youth across West Africa. Bukola Ayoola is a former ECOWAS Volunteer  For Bukola Ayoola, Country Coordinator for Liberia of the ECOWAS Volunteers Scheme (EYVS) at the Office of the Special Representative in Liberia, the opportunity for the ECOWAS Volunteers Scheme to address youth unemployment is something she is very passionate about. Cutting an assuming and humble figure, I first met her in Liberia for an ECOWAS meeting in January. I was impressed by the wealth of experience she has, consideri...